Rather than reduce women’s lives to a misogynistic thought experiment for op-ed pages, we should listen to what it is women say they need to lead fulfilling lives, have healthy pregnancies and build thriving families — not punish them.

America already has a dark history of state-sanctioned violence on Black and brown bodies for medical experimentation, particularly on those living in poverty and under government control. And we stood as idly by then as we do now.

The contemporary anti-abortion movement has never really cared about lives outside the womb. Now they’re praising Trump as a “pro-life” icon while his administration neglects undocumented immigrants, sick kids, and poor families.

Your story is an undeniable truth and might radically shift how someone who had an abortion reflects on their own experience, the stigma they faced and to help challenge the stereotypes and misinformation others have heard about people who have abortions.

Far too often, compassion for black lives doesn’t extend beyond the womb or to the black women carrying that womb. Too few tears are shed for the people killed by police violence. Reproductive justice is about the resolve to raise our families on our own terms, safely.

The abortion debate rages on, but the voices of those who’ve actually had abortions are ignored. Few people try to understand our lives. And we are never asked the most simple but important question: Why did you do it?